Digital Brainwaves

I’m about 20 minutes timeshifted here, but I should catch up soon (edit: caught up live between the 11th and 12th performances). Live performances start tonight, with the top 12 men!

• We start out with the prerequisite introductions of the men, a quick hi to the ladies, Randy says dawg and yo a lot, and Paula and Simon give obvious tips.
• 1960s night tonight. Should be fun times.
  1. David Hernandez - “In The Midnight Hour” - This was the guy that made it to the top 24, but not unanimously. Sounds pretty good through most of the song, but nothing remarkable or special. Hit way flat on the last note.
  2. Chikezie - “More Today Than Yesterday” - Where’d his last name go? Chikezie sings a normally rockin’ ’60s song in a somewhat ’70s R&B style, and it sounds really awesome to me. Kinda the opposite of David, he hit a weird note at the beginning, but played out the rest with no problem. Simon, for some reason, decided to rip him apart as “old fashioned”
• Colton does an Ellen Degeneres impression, and David looks almost too relaxed.
  3. David Cook - “Happy Together” - Weird slow intro, had me worried the whole song was going to be that way. Sounded kinda karaoke-ish to me early on, but ended rather stronger.
  4. Jason Yeager - “Moon River” - I’m still not sure what’s up with the skunk stripe in the front of his hair. Doesn’t affect his singing, though. Save a couple pitchy spots… straight through, front to back, sounds great.
  5. Robbie Carrico - “One” - Robbie mentioned that he toured with Britney Spears at one point, and apparently, say the gossip rags, dated her for a time. Starts off sounding a lot like the original Three Dog Night. As the song goes on, he starts to add a little bit of rocker edge to it, but I was expecting more. Sounded safe to me, but not bad at all.
  6. David Archuleta - “Shop Around” - David almost sounds like he’s singing an octave to low, as we’re in danger of losing him on some of the lowest notes. At one point at the end he sounded like he was about to lose his breath, but sounds great overall.
     
• Ryan draws an “awwww” from the crowd for David - “You can only vote for him, you can’t adopt him.”
  7. Danny Noriega - “Jailhouse Rock” - Danny sounds like the band is getting ahead of him, and he’s having trouble keeping up. Doesn’t sound spectacular, just kinda okay.
• Simon nearly makes Paula cry.
  8. Luke Menard - “Everybody’s Talkin’” - Sounds kinda okay, but he almost looks nervous, his hands are down by his sides through most of the performance. Weird pitchy note in the middle. He says afterward that he thought he’d come off as looking comfortable, but I don’t think he did at all.
  9. Colton Berry - “Suspicious Minds” - One or two pitchy spots, but a much better job doing an Elvis song than Danny did. Liking it overall.
  10. Garrett Haley - “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” - Showing his San Diego audition, you can’t tell whether it’s a girl or a guy. Kinda looks like ’80s hair. The ballad version of what started as a peppy song is kinda okay, but I’m not sure it sounded very interesting.
  11. Jason Castro - “Daydream” - Jason brings the guitar on stage with him. He does a good job on the song, though he sounds a little pitchy at the end. Not sure if the guitar is going to help him all that much. Really good overall, though. Simon actually thought the band took away from him and the guitar.
  12. Michael Johns - “Light My Fire” - Pitchy in the middle, but it took getting to the middle of the song for him to sound like he was getting into it and getting his rhythm. Great job overall.

I’m casting votes for: Chikezie (2), David C. (3), Jason Y. (4), Robbie (5), David A. (6), Colton (9), Jason C. (11) and Michael (12).

Predictions:
Bottom three: Danny, Luke and Garrett
Going home: Luke and Garrett